Is It Me or Is It Menopause?

You've been chalking it up to stress. The brain fog, the sleep that doesn't restore you, the anxiety that surfaces at 2 in the morning for no identifiable reason. The way you used to push through anything, and now pushing feels like it costs you something you're not getting back. You've tried better sleep practices, more magnesium, cutting out wine on weekdays. Some of it helps for a minute. But the root is still there.

And then the question arrives: Is it me? Am I losing it? Is this just how it's going to be?

It's not you. It's perimenopause. And the reason it took this long to name it is not a failure of your self-awareness. It's a failure of the conversation we've been having around women's health.